Posts tagged Altiplano

The large, dark blue body of water standing out against the brown altiplano on the Peru-Bolivia border near the center of this image is Lake Titicaca. It sits 3,811 m (12,500 ft) above sea level, making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world.

The lake is located at the northern end of the endorheic Altiplano basin high in the Andes on the border of Peru and Bolivia. The western part of the lake lies within the Puno Region of Peru, and the eastern side is located in the Bolivian La Paz Department.

It is composed of two nearly separate sub-basins that are connected by the Strait of Tiquina, which is 800 m (2,620 ft) across at the narrowest point. The overall average depth of the lake is 107 m (351 ft).

Also visible to the southeast of the lake, near the bottom edge, are the greenish Lake Poopó and the white salt flats of the Salar de Uyuni.

Lake Poopó is a large saline lake located in a shallow depression in the Altiplano Mountains in Bolivia. Here, sediments in the long, wide lake cause its waters to change in color from dark brown to the north to green to the south.

Two large, bright white salt flats can be seen south of the lake. The larger of the two, the Salar de Uyuni, is actually the world’s biggest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi).

The second is Lago Coipasa or Salar de Coipasa, 20 km north of Salar de Uyuni. Its surface area is 806 km². Its eastern shores are lightly tinged with blue.

The Andes mountains run parallel to the Pacific Ocean, dividing Peru into three geographic regions. This orthorectified image shows two of the three: the highlands and the jungle.

The sierra (highlands) is the region of the Andes; it includes the Altiplano plateau. The selva (jungle) is a wide expanse of flat terrain covered by the Amazon rainforest that extends east from the mountains. Almost 60% of the country’s area is located within this region (70 million hectares), giving Peru the fourth largest area of tropical forest in the world.

Most Peruvian rivers originate in the Andes and drain into one of three basins. Those that drain toward the Pacific Ocean are steep and short, flowing only intermittently. Tributaries of the Amazon River are longer, have a much larger flow, and are less steep once they exit the sierra. Rivers that drain into Lake Titicaca are generally short and have a large flow. Here, some rivers can be seen flowing downwards from the Andes.

The diverse landscape of central Mexico, ranging from desert to mountains to fertile coastal areas, is exemplified in this image. The mountains of the Sierra Madre Oriental run down the eastern side of the country, closer to the Gulf of Mexico, while those of the Sierra Madre Occidental run down the western side, closer to the Pacific Ocean. Between the two is the Altiplano area.

Also of note are several large lakes and lagoons, the most prominent of which is Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest freshwater lake, in the lower left quadrant. It is located 45 km southeast of Guadalajara, Jalisco, and is situated on the border between the states of Jalisco and Michoacán, at 1,524 metres above sea level. Its approximate dimensions are 80 km from east to west and 18 km from north to south, and it covers a total of some 1,100 km². It is a shallow lake, with a mean depth of 4.5 metres and a maximum of 10.5.

Many ecological zones are represented within Bolivia’s territory. The western highlands of the country are situated in the Andes Mountains and include the Bolivian Altiplano. The eastern lowlands, continuing into Brazil, include large sections of Amazonian rainforests and the Chaco Plain.

This FAPAR image highlights the differences in vegetation between those ecological zones. Forest areas with a high level of photosynthetic activity appear dark red to dark green, while the dry altiplano appears light yellow to white.